Financial-services cards, such as credit cards, debit cards, check cashing cards, ATM withdrawal cards, smart cards, and the like, are an important part of a convenience-driven consumer economy. Fraud, however, continues to be a significant drawback to using such cards.
For example, someone who makes a purchase at a point of sale terminal such as a grocery store cash register may swipe a magnetic-stripe credit card through a card reader provided at the cash register and sign the resulting sales slip, without ever showing the credit card itself to a cashier. In such circumstances, the cashier has no way of verifying the card user's identity by comparing a signature on the back of the card with the signature written on the sales slip. This provides an easy opportunity for the fraudulent use of lost or stolen credit cards, debit cards, and the like.
One way to diminish this risk is to require the card user to enter a personal identification number (PIN) into a keypad provided alongside the card reader. Unfortunately, introducing this extra step slows the transaction, and inconveniences rightful cardholders. Also, many people simply write their PIN on the financial services card for a fraudulent user to plainly see, thereby defeating the purpose of the PIN.
Thus, there is a need for a way of verifying the legitimacy of the user of a financial services card, without introducing an element of delay or inconvenience, and without opening the possibility of the card user perfunctorily defeating the verification method.